Divorce help needed

Thanks for much for taking the time to reply. Yes he does but a lot of records have been destroyed. His brother went to the actual record office but they said at the moment nothing can be accessed and basically go away they have bigger problems. The certificate was lost years ago, its ridiculous we cannot prove we are married to divorce but we are. i always declare it on documents etc even though I don't feel married iyswim. Just don't know what to do, we can tell them the date, place time witnesses etc just don't have the piece of paper.

Hi this is my first ever post. I joined this site after a friend who uses it said maybe someone could help. And I don't really want to discuss this in real life. Only my closest friends know and they re stumped as to ideas. Sorry if I get any protocol wrong. Long story as short a possible, when I was 18 I travelled all over the world with my then boyfriend he's Syrian and in a moment of madness we got married. This was over 10 years ago. We have never lived together as man and wife, he is still my best friend but we drifted apart relationship wise. All totally amicable he is sitting with me as i type this. We never bothered to sort out divorce etc he lives abroad but visits regularly we both have lives, jobs etc. recently he bought a house in France and I became very uncomfortable with the idea that legally am entitled to half everything apparently this would be automatic there if heaven forbid anything happened to him. He doesn't care but I do it wouldn't be right. So we want to divorce, annulment is not a option as we don't meet the criteria. The problem is somehow our marriage certificate got lost and the situation being what it is in Syria right now our enquiries are not a priority. We married in Damascus and the solicitor I consulted said we needed documentation etc to proceed. What on earth do we do? Is it worth seeing another solicitor? Believe me I know how ridiculous this sounds, I joke why didnt we at least go to Vegas?! But genuinely if anyone has any experience or ideas as to how to proceed that would be great and very much appreciated. Thanks